The full text on this page is automatically extracted from the file linked above and may contain errors and inconsistencies.
I F I H S T . A . I I S r O I E -
EEMARKS
OP
HOIST. S. M. CULLOM,
O F
ILLINOIS,
SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES,
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1893,
ON THE
BILL (H. R. 1) TO REPEAL A PART OF AN ACT APPROVED
JULY 14, 1890, ENTITLED "AN ACT DIRECTING THE
•PURCHASE OF SILVER BULLION AND THE
ISSUE OF TREASURY NOTES THEREON,
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES."
WASHINGTON.
1893.
S P E E C H
OB
HON.
S. M.
CULLOM.
The Senate having u n d e r consideration t h e hill (H. R. 1) to repeal a p a r t of
a n act, approved J u l y 14, 1890, entitled "An act directing the purchase of
silver bullion and the issue of T r e a s u r y notes thereon, and f o r other purposes"—
Mr. CULLOM said:
Mr. PRESIDENT: The questions now engrossing the attention
of the country and especially of Congress surpass in importance
any which have been the subject of Congressional action since
slavery was abolished and the perpetuity of the Union secured.
T h e determination of g r e a t financial questions affect beneficially
or disastrously not only the people of one country, but, to an
extent, all t h e nations.
Opinion is unanimous t h a t the condition of affairs in this country nowdemands immediate attention and prompt action by Congress; all agree that commerce is stagnant in all the geographical divisions of our country; that banks and commercial houses
are failing; t h a t factories and mines are closed, and t h a t within
t h e last six months perhaps a million wage-earners have been
thrown out of employment.
Bui, unfortunately for the country, t h e r e is no such agreement
of opinion among the people or in Congress as to t h e cause of t h e
distress that has so swiftly and unexpectedly come upon us, or,
as to what is of paramount importance, the remedy for it. No
such peculiar condition as exists in America to*day was ever
known in our history. The people have suddenly found themselves in changed circumstances—the merchant without customers; the factory closed for lack of orders; the bank losing its
deposits; the farmer with put price for the products of the soil;
t h e laboring man without work; all classes without confidence,
and the entire country appealing to Congress for speedy relief.
W e ' h a v e been admonished by the public press and from sun2
357
3
dry other sources, that in the present emergency patriotism
should be superior to partisan politics, and sectional interests
should yield to the common weal. Sir, if I believed it necessary
that such admonitions should be given to the American Congress,
I should regard a seat in this body as without honor, and should
deplore the decadence of national spirit. Conscious of no purpose on my part other than that of securing the greatest stability
to our Government, the highest prosperity, consistent with conservatism, to the nation, and the largest sum of happiness to the
individual, I am unwilling to believe that other motives actuate my colleagues.
The chairman of the Committee on Finance has reported a bill
allowing national banks to secure and issue circulation to the par
value of the bonds deposited by them with the Treasury Department. The cry comes from the people for more money. This
bill, if enacted into law, would result in an increase of our circulating medium, and as good money as the world affords. The
measure is recommended by the Secretary of the Treasury, and
j e t , before a vote can be had on it, the whole national-banking
system, which has been discussed for more than twenty-five
ye^rs, must be discussed again in the same old strain and with
the same arguments that have been heard at every crossroads
from the time the act was passed. W h y not give the country
this crumb of relief, and when the people have emerged from
their present distressed condition, take up the bank act, discuss
it, and amend it if that is deemed wise?
The amendment offered by the Senator from Missouri [Mr.
COCKRELL], while it is of no great consequence in itself, yet if i t
should be adopted is to be the entering wedge which will result
in the retirement of the national-bank notes now in circulation,
and the issuance in their place of an equal amount of greenback
promises to pay on demand in gold, added to nearly one thousand
millions of paper already issued, which the Government is pledged
to maintain. To what port are we, as a nation, drifting? Is it
not time to stop and take our bearings, if it is not the purpose of
the movers of such amendments to wreck the national Treasury;
as I am sure it is not?
I favor the passage of the bill as it is, but think I do not object to the amendment of the Senator from Maryland.
357
4
The chairman of the Finance Committee, in response to the
message of the President, has reported a bill to repeal the clauses
of the act of July 14,1890, providing for the monthly purchase
of 4,500,000 ounces of silver. I shall vote for the bill.
I am not one of those who believe that the act oi 1890 is in a
great degree responsible for the existing financial condition.
I am for its repeal, however, for the reason that it was passed
as an expedient, and was not expected to remain on the statute
book very long, and because the Government can not afford to
buy silver and coin or issue paper on it and call it a dollar when
in fact the silver in the dollar or deposited as security for the
dollar is worth less than 60 cents. Such a performance long continued would embarrass any government. The reason the people are satisfied with silver certificates now is because the Government stands behind them and is pledged to take care of them;
but the Government is not called upon to continue such a policy.
Other causes have aided in producing the distrust. I shall
refer to them later. The act of 1890 was not intended to represent the well-defined and permanent financial policy of the United
States, but it was passed as the lesser of two evils—the purchasing of bullion and the issuance of paper money based on it, or
the free and unlimited coinage of silver. I t was a compromise
measure to avert what a majority of our friends on the other side
now will admit would have been a calamity—the free coinage of
silver. The abuse and condemnation which have been heaped
upon it are not justified by the facts. Fearful that the United
States alone could not maintain silver at a parity with gold, with
its mints open to the coinage of the silver of the world, and
hopeful of a fruitful reiult from the then approaching monetary
conference, the act was passed. I t has at least given more money
fo our people, and if, as has been stated, i t has at times driven
gold from the country, the experience of the last few weeks
demonstrates that while it is yet in force the yellow metal under
the operation of trade comes to our shores.
I am not a monometallist; I do not believe in the disuse of
either of the two metals named in the Constitution. There is no
considerable number of men in this country who demand the ostracism of silver or of gold; on the contrary, all concede the
utility of both as money metals. But the closer commercial re357
5
lations of nations which marks the advance of civilization makes
international concurrence in the free and unlimited use of both
metals as money more desirable, if 40t absolutely necessary.
I favor the free use of silver which comes from international
coinage uponacommon basis or agreed ratio. Gold has no money
function inherent in itself any more than has sil ver. Both metals
are the creation of nature, while money is the creature of law.
There are no natural laws which govern the science of money,
and there is no theory in the science which is capable of mathematical demonstration. All that we know pertaining to the science is the resultof experiments and experience, and it is not
certain that what may to-day seem a well-defined principle in
monetary science will very long remain so.
The people want silver; so do I. The people first of all want
all our circulating medium, whether gold, silver, or paper, of
equal value; so do I. The people are more interested in knowing that their money is all good and that it will continue so than
they are to know the material out of which it is made.
I will insert as part of my remarks a table showing the amount
of gold and silver coins and certificates, United States notes, and
national-bank notes in circulation August 1,1893*
The table is as follows:
statement showing the amounts of gold and silver coins and certificates, United
States notes, and national-bank notes in circulation August J, 1893.
Gold coin
S t a n d a r d silver dollars
Subsidiary silver
Gold certificates
Silver certificates
T r e a s u r y notes, act J u l y 14,1890
United S t a t e s n o t e s . .
Currency certificates, act J u n e 8,1872
National-banknotes
8416,909,941
56,223,989
64,007,129
87,611,029
330,188,390
143,774,138
324,394,404
7,855,000
180,134,997
1,611,099,017
Taking the Treasury Department's estimate of population in
the United States on the same date, August 1,1893 (67,066,000),
we have a per capita circulation of $24.02, which is about as much
as we have ever had, and more than we had until recent years.
The Senator from Iowa [Mr. ALLISON] suggests to me that we
have added $69,000,000 during the month of August just passed,
357
6
and that would be, as is suggested to me by the Senator from
Rhode Island [Mr. DIXON], an increase of over a dollar per capita.
There would, therefore, seem to be no ground for believing
that the present situation has been brought about by a scarcity
of money in the country. I t is in the country, but it is not in
circulation. The trouble is serious impairment of confidence,
which has caused the hoarding of money, and it will remain out
of circulation until in some way confidence is reestablished.
I may be allowed to digress sufficiently to say that I am gratified to learn that a very prominent gentleman in Chicago, Mr.
Armour, is reported in the dispatches in the morning papers as
saying that money is now coming, not only out of the pockets of
individuals, but out of the banks in loans, and that the probabilities are that there will be an abundance of money very soon.
The amount of deposits in the national banks of the United
States July 12,1893, was $1,556,761,230. This vast sum belongs
in large part to individuals and corporations; it lies in the banks
idle, the banks holding it for the owners, and they do not withdraw it because they are afraid to use it. Many men who have
money are not only afraid to leave it in the banks but they are
equally afraid to use it in business.
The proposition to repeal the act of 1890 would not be opposed
by the silver men but for the reason that they believe that such
repeal, without some other legislation being at once enacted in
lieu thereof, means the end of silver as money in this country.
I do not believe, if we discontinue the purchase of silver bullion
now, that it will be long before some more satisfactory plan for
its use will be devised. So long as the act of 1890 remains on
the statute books we will surely come no nearer free coinage
than we are now. I suppose, as a matter of fact, if the question
were now settled, there would be no one in the Senate, perhaps,
who would be in favor of the retention longer on the statute
book of the so-called Sherman act passed in 1890.
The American people do not desire a policy in reference to
silver, either by continuing the purchase of silver bullion or by
the adoption of free coinage, which will result in driving all the
gold out of the country and making this a silver nation. This
the majority will and ought not to submit to. I am inclined to
believe that I state the fact truthfully when I say that there are
357
7
not a dozen Senators on this floor who are to-day ready to vote
in favor of making this a silver nation and driving gold out of
the country.
The repeal of the act of 1890 does not make gold the standard
money of the country. It is the unit of value now. Section
3511 of the Revised Statutes reads as follows:
The gold coins of the United States shall be a one-dollar piece, which, a t
the standard weight of 25.8 grains, shall be the unit of value.
Then follows the description of other gold pieces. The statute
of 1873 made gold the standard I refer to this because many
people believe that the repeal of the act of 1890 will in some
way make gold the standard, and that it is not now the standard
of value. W e are not doing any such thing; we are not seeking
to make gold the standard; we are simply seeking to repeal the
Sherman act, which is an act for the purchase of silver bullion,
and then coining a part of it or issuing silver certificates upon
it. I t has no reference whatever to the legal-tender quality of
the money, and there is nothing in the act which in any way
either interferes with the standard or makes gold or silver the
standard money.
Mr. MITCHELL of Oregon. Will the Senator allow me
there?
Mr. CULLOM.^ Yes.
Mr. MITCHELL of Oregon. The Senator will admit, however, that if the Sherman act be repealed and nothing else is
done, there will be no law at all on the statute book by which
another silver dollar can be coined.
Mr. CULLOM. I understand that was the condition of the
country up to the time of the passage of the Bland act—that then
there were no silver dollars coined. But what I insist upon ia
that the repeal of the Sherman act has no reference whatever
to the question as to whether silver or gold shall be the standard.
Mr. MITCHELL of Oregon. The repeal of the Sherman act
would leave us with one hundred and forty or one hundred and
fifty million ounces of silver bullion onliand, with no provision
whatever for its coinage.
Mr. CULLOM. I assume that the party in power in the Senate will take such action with reference to the bullion we havo
on hand as will be wise and proper in the premises.
357
271
Mr. ALDRICH. If the Senator from Illinois will allow me,
the repeal of the purchasing clause of the act of 1890 would not
repeal the provisions of that act which authorize the coinage of
the bullion on hand or the redemption ot the Treasury notes issued in accordance therewith.
Mr. CULLOM. I am obliged to the Senator from Rhode Island for the suggestion. The bill does not deal with that question at all. Therefore that subject stands as it was before any
effort was made to repeal any portion of the act, and when we
pass the repealing act, if we ever do, it will simply apply to the
purchase of silver bullion, and stop there.
England adopted the gold standard in 1816, and has maintained
it ever since. Germany suspended the free coinage of silver in
1871; the United States in 1873, when we adopted the gold
standard. In the same year Prance limited the amount of silver to be accepted. Sweden and Norway demonetized silver in
1874. Holland suspended free coinage and established a gold
standard in 1875. France stopped the mintage of silver in 1876,
in which year Russia and Spain stopped the coinage of silver.
Austria-Hungary adopted t h e gold standard in 1892, and, finally,
this year India stops the coinage of silver, I believe, on private
account, though I am not positive that it absolutely stops it.
Now, Mr. President, can we alone maintain bimetallism, for
we are practically alone, so far as the great, powers are conerned. The United States can not, in my opinion, alone maintain
free coinage of silver unless we are willing to become a silver
nation and drive the gold out. W h a t we want is an international
agreement securing the use of both metals and free coinage on
an agreed ratio, and if we repeal the act of 1890 and stop the purchase of silver I believe we will get it. The.policy of piling up
silver bullion is not wise statesmanship, and in a little time it
will surely be stopped. The special friends of silver may as well
realize this. The people will not continue indefinitely the business of buying and cording up silver bullion and issuing paper
to represent it and make the Government responsible for its redemption. Why not, then, let it be stopped now and make another effort in favor ot an international agreement?
England adopted the gold standard in 1816, doubtless because
by so doiu.g she could secure an advantage over other nations
a57
9
which owed her and were silver nations. She did secure an advantage. She made the silver nations in debt to her pay her in
gold or its equivalent when they did not have^the gold. There
is now, however, a strong party in England in favor of bimetallism and the remonetization «f silver. Before the disastrous failure of Baring Brothers a British commission was appointed to inquire into the depression of trade, and it reported
that it was caused by the demonetization of silver by England
and other nations; and on the question of restoring silver to
its ancient use as money, remonetizing it, the commission divided equally—six to six. When England finds that she no
longer derives an advantage by maintaining the single gold
standard I trust and believe she will join other nations in favor
of the restoration of silver and the maintenance of a bimetallic
standard.
But we are told by gold monometallists that bimetallism is impracticable; that it is impossible to establish a permanent ratio
between the two metals. I remember reading the observation
of some student of the science, who, in dealing with this very
dictum, compared it with the doctrine, "it is impossible for a
man to draw a line absolutely straight, or to show two things
that are exactly alike." He said:
This so-called impossibility of a fixed r a t i o between the two metals is aa
unworthy to support a statesman in denying t h e possibility or desirability
of a successful establishment of a fixed r a t i o as the Impossibility pf making
anything straight, or of making two things alike,4s uaworthy to prevent
t h e construction of machinery and works of engineering. Machinery and
engineering works all demand for their perfection straight lines and identity
between different parts. At the same t i m e substantial straightness, snbstantialidentlty will suffice. In practice the infinitely small can be neglected
by the engineer and mechanician; why not by the statesman, why not by
the economist?
The United States must adopt a financial policy which will do
even justice between all classes and all geographical divisions,
between debtors and creditors,between employers and employes.
I t should be borne in mind that universal bankruptcy, which for
some time has threatened the country, is as fatal to the creditor
classes as to the debtor classes, and that the safety of the money
interests of commerce lies in keeping money under the c o n s t a n t
protection of wise laws.
Mr. President, I sympathize with that section of our Union
357
10
which has been found to he so rich in minerals—copper, lead,
silver, and gold—and which has contributed so many millions of
the money metals to the world, and the people of those States
may well be excused for their manifestation of intense anxiety.
The hardships overcome and the wonderful progress made by
the patriotic settlers of that great region west of the Missouri,
if written up, as it will be, will form one of the most thrilling
stories in the whole progress of our race. In all their achievements they have been actuated by the thought that civilization
has the right of way to the future on this continent. All the
advantages that follow in the track of civilization now prevail
over that vast area, through the persistent faith and dauntless
energy of' our citizens in that great section. As one humble
representative of the Commonwealth of Illinois; the richest,
most populous, and, commercially, the most powerful of the
Central States 6f the Union, closely identified in its commerce
with all the States west of it, as well as with those of the East,
North, and South, I shall regret if any action we may take on
this or any other question shall prove to be in any degree injurious to those brave and patriotic people.
But it seems to me more important to secure a settlement of
the silver question upon some enduring basis, rather than leave
it with the act of 1890 in force, which surely can not long stand.
Secure free coinage, if possible, through an international agreement, and you will be on a basis which will endure.
Free coinage by the United States alone means monometallism;
it means all silver and no gold. I am against making this a silver nation. I desire the free use of both silver and gold at a par^
ity, which we can have if other nations will join with us, but
which we can not have with safety without such concurrence of
action.
Mr. P E F F E R . Will the Senator allow me a moment?
Mr. CULLOM. I do not care to be interrupted.
The PRESIDING OFFICER {Mr. G A L L I N G E R in the chair).
The Senator from Illinois declines to be interrupted.
Mr. CULLOM. The question now is distinct from the question of free coinage—shall we repeal the act of 1890 or the silver-purchasing clause of it? Some of our Democratic friends
seem more especially anxious for repeal; because, in the first
357
11
place, they did not vote for the hill when it passed; and secondly,
because they were profuse in the denunciations of the act in
their national convention, which, in the language of the platform, "should make all of its supporters," meaning friends of the
act, 4 'anxious for its speedy repeal."
Mr. President, in my action I am not prompted by any political platform. I shall act as my judgment dictates is best. I
will vote for repeal because it may help to restore confidence,
even though the act did not have much part in producing the
lack of it.
Mr. President, there are other causes for the present situation. The Senator from New York in his remarks the other
day suggested that the question should be discussed 4in all its
bearings. I shall ask the Senate to look at the subject from
another standpoint. I do not regard it as out of place to look
at the commercial questions which bear upon the general situation. A year ago the financial condition of the Government and
its Treasury was satisfactory, and the credit of the nation at
the highest point ever attained in our history. A year ago the
gold bags of the world were ready to be poured into the United
States Treasury in exchange for United States bonds at 2 per
cent—certainly at 2£ per cent. Whether our credit still remains
as good I am in doubt. I make no mistake when I say that the
credit of the nation was higher and better a year ago than that
of any other government or financial institution on the globe.
A year ago our internal and foreign commerce was larger than
ever in our history. A year ago the manufacturing and mining
industries were turning out a larger product than ever; a greater
number of laborers were employed than ever, and the rate of
wages was higher than ever. W h a t is the spectacle which confronts us now and commands our attention? The credit of our
National Government called in question fbr the first time since
the outbreak of the war, and the commerce of the country reduced: factories closed or running on half time, mines shut up,
and a million of men unemployed and willing to work for even
half the wages they received a year ago.
Mr. President, my object is to seek the cause of all this untoward condition of affairs.
When Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated President of the
357
12
United States, in 1861, it was the end of a period of hard times.
I t may be said to mark the end of an epoch in American history
and the beginning of a new one. The old one went out leaving
the people poor, with no money and no work. The new one was
inaugurated in a period of extreme financial depression among
the people, with no national credit, and the country soon involved in the most expe nsive war ever waged on this planet.
I shall not stop now to describe the financial processes by
which the National Treasury was abundantly replenished, the
expenditures of a great war met, and the national credit lifted
to the high plane which it occupied a year ago. It may be of
interest to state that the expenses growing out of the civil war
up to June 30,1893, amounted to the enormous sum of $8,000,000,000. The bonded debt reached its highest point in August,
1865, now twenty-eight years ago. On the 30th of June last it
had been reduced to about $841,000,000. I state these facts to
show the financial power of this Government when properly administered.
A t the beginning of this epoch in which the Republican party
held substantial control a policy of taxation was inaugurated,
both internal and customs, having one great object in view, the
preservation of the life of the nation. The people bore taxation as the soldiers bore arms—to save the Union.
Money flowed into the National Treasury through the channels of internal taxation and customs duties. The nation entered
upon a career of commercial and industrial vigor never before
experienced. Protective-tariff laws had taken their place upon
the statute books. Prior to the war no tariff law had been pronounced in favor of protection, and neither did a very long period elapse under a protective tariff to test its influence in favor
of national prosperity or to demonstrate its influence in favor of
American labor. Under the assurance that the needs of the Government would cause the policy of protection to be steadfastly
maintained, there was seen an advance in every commercial and
industrial pursuit, the like of which the world had never seen. I
will not stop to give the statistics to prove what I state; they can
be easily procured. I will say that the total value of the property devoted to manufactures and mining in 1892 amounted to
nearly $9,000,000,000, the result in large measure of the finan33?
13
cial policy of t h e Government prevailing- for the last thirty
years.
In November, 1892, an election came on and the party now in
full possession of the executive and legislative branches of the
Government triumphed. It came in, as speakers on the opposite side of this Chamber have repeatedly said, pledged to Hhe
repea} of the protective-tariff laws of the country; pledged to
overturn the policy under which our industries and resources
had been developed; pledged to the proposition that any protective tariff is unconstitutional and is a robbery of the many for
the benefit of the few; pledged to overturn the national banking
system, which had furnished the best paper currency to the people the country ever had, by the repeal of the 10 percent tax on
State-bank circulation, and the establishment of State banks with
a paper currency different and peculiar to every State and current nowhere except in the neighborhood of its issue and at a
discount everywhere, if history ropeats itself, and it surely will.
Down with the tariff; up with the reform tariff, whatever that
may mean. Down with the Sherman law; up with free coinage.
Down with the national banks; up with State banks. This is
the bill of fare which will be put before the people if the history
of the dominant party in the Senate and the utterances of its national conventions are an index of its future conduct. W h a t
wonder, Mr. President, when the country realized what had been
done in securing this change of policy, by the election of a Democratic President and a Congress Democratic in both branches,
distrust, hesitation, want of confidence seized the people, which
has resulted in an almost complete paralysis of business and the
hiding away of the circulating medium of the country, and finally
in the President calling Congress together.
W e will repeal the act of 1890, because it is not wise to continue
in force a statute providing for the purchase of 4,500,000 ounces
of silver per month and issuiiig paper which the Government is
bound to protect. I hope its repeal will be of service in removing the paralysis now upon business; but we will not soon have
good times and good wages again if all the pledges made by the
party now in power are redeemed in good faith. I hope I am
mistaken. I am as anxious as any man to see confidence rerestored; to see the 'hundreds of thousands of idle men given a
337
14
chance to earn good wages. If the people could be assured of
the policy that is to prevail for the next four years they would
know what they had to meet.
Mr. President, what is to be the policy of the Administration
party on financial questions? I speak of the Administration
par,ty, because there are now two wings of Democracy in the
Senate. Is the party simply to repeal the silver-purchasing act
of 1890 and then take a rest? Are we to have the national
banking system swept away, the circulation (the best we ever
had) taken up, and greenback promises to pay substituted? The
chairman of the Committee on Appropriations is headed in that
direction. If these things are to come to pass you will find that
instead of a renewal of the good times we had less t h a n a year
ago, that the gloom of stagnation, poverty, and distress will
settle down upon the country for years to come.
Agriculture, manufactures, commerce, and navigation, the four
pillars of our prosperity, as Jefferson once said, will continue to
languish.
Our friends on the other side in this discussion have given
much attention to the question of the construction of the money
plank of their national platform, one side insisting that it meant
unconditional repeal of the silver act of 1890, the other that it
meant conditional repeal. Strong arguments have been made
on both sides of the question. The Senator from North Carolina [Mr. VANCE], on Friday last, made the very potent argument, from a Democratic standpoint, t h a t by conditional repeal
that party would be united. I infer that he regards it as divided
if unconditional repeal of the silver act is accomplished. This,
Mr. President, would be a calamity the country could easily bear.
Mr. President, the platforms of the two parties on the money
question are not very unlike in either language or meaning, and
the prominent feature of each was that every dollar, whether of
paper or coin, issued by the Govern ment should be as good as
any other and at all times equal.
And that is what the country wants. It wants whatever circulating medium we have, whether gold, silver, greenbacks,certificates, national-bank notes, or what not, the best. As we t a v e
all these forms of currency, the policy of the Government ought
357
15
to be, and must be, if we treat the people right, that every dollar
of whatever kind shall be as good as the best.
Each of the two platforms recognized the importance of securing an international conference to adopt measures to insure a
parity between the two metals. The special champions of the
silver-purchase act say that act must not be repealed, because to
repeal it would be the end of silver as a money metal in this
country. Of what value is the law now? The silver mines are
closed; the smelters are reported to be shut down, while the silver-purchasing act still remains in force. Why? Because the
product of the mines has become BO cheap, notwithstanding the
fact that the Government has been buying 4,500,000 ounces per
month, that it does not pay to produce silver at its present price.
In the face of this, while the mines are closed up, as reported,
and the smelters are shut down, we are appealed to by the silver
men to insist that the act of 1890 shall stay upon the statute
book unless we are ready to give them free coinage. I want to
say that free coinage will not be given to them, if I am any judge
of the public sentiment of this country, until some arrangement
is made by which, when we authorize the issuance of silver dollars, they will be as good as gold dollars or any other dollars in
the world.
If the Government continues the purchase of silver bullion
under the law it will be mainly foreign silver instead of our
own.
Mr. President, the interests of the people require a sound,
stable currency. We can not afford to experiment in the adoption of doubtful policies. We want no fiat money. We want a
dollar which is intrinsically worth 100 cents the world over.
I wish to say that there seems to be a growing disposition on
the part of everybody apparently to find out some new financial
scheme which he can thrust upon the country and disturb the
business of the country, because that is the effect when such
theories are thrown upon the country and have any particular
following.
W e want a system of finance which will not involve the Treasury Department in constant danger. We want to rid ourselves
of the idea that all that is necessary to make money for the people
357
16
is to print a promise to pay and put the Government stamp upon
it. We want to secure to the country, a sound currency and put
it beyond danger of becoming debased. W e will thus be serving
the Government faithfully, and we will equally well serve the
business men, the toilers, and all classes of our people.
Mr. President, the business men of all classes appeal to us to
pass the bill for the repeal of the silver act of 1890. Multitudes
of laborers are pleading for work.
If there is anything we as legislators can do, consistent with
national honor and financial safety, to lift the clouds that darken
the situation, remove the difficulties and start the wheels of
commerce which are now rusting on the railroad tracks, in the
shops, mills, factories, and mines, let us do it at once.
357
O
@FedFRASER